Arsenal earned some respite after a turbulent week as two Santi Cazorla goals helped them beat relegation-threatened Aston Villa.

Cazorla powered in a low shot to give the hosts a sixth-minute lead.

Arsenal could not make the most of their possession and were punished when poor defending let Andreas Weimann drive in a 22-yard equaliser.

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Arsenal win deserved after 'rocky' week

But Nacho Monreal cut the ball across for Cazorla to sidefoot in a winner from 12 yards after 85 minutes.

The victory moved Arsenal to within a point of fourth-placed rivals Tottenham and, even though it was not a convincing win, it will come as a huge relief after home defeats by Blackburn and Bayern Munich in the past seven days.

Villa will be heartbroken after a game in which they defended so resolutely after letting in the opener and were rewarded for their counter-attacking efforts when Weimann scored.

However, they could not hang on for a point as Arsenal applied some late pressure and the West Midlands side dropped into the bottom three on goal difference.

Villa next play champions Manchester City before relegation rivals Reading and QPR, while the Gunners, who will hope to improve on a laboured performance, are scheduled to play fellow top-four contenders Spurs and Everton.

Gunners midfielder Jack Wilshere had highlighted that his side have a tendency to be slow starters in matches and he made sure that was not the case this time around.

Analysis

John MotsonBBC Match of the Day commentator

"Goodness me this was not a convincing performance from Arsenal and it nearly wasn't a victory. Arsenal had so much of the play but Aston Villa, who were so bright on the counter-attack, will consider themselves unfortunate to lose. The end of an extraordinary week at the Emirates."

The England international was central to his side's play, surging clear from the left side in the opening minutes and having a driven shot fended away by keeper Brad Guzan.

Arsenal, though, did not have to wait long for the breakthrough as they took advantage of some hesitant and uncertain defending from a Villa side without injured centre-back Ron Vlaar.

Wilshere slipped the ball to Cazorla and, after his first shot was blocked by Nathan Baker, the Spaniard was quickest to latch on to the rebound before firing past Guzan.

The visitors responded with a tenacity to test the home side's resolve and give their hosts plenty of anxious moments.

Gabriel Agbonlahor had a shot parried away by keeper Wojciech Szczesny before the Villa forward narrowly failed to get on the end of a low Charles N'Zogbia cross across the Gunners goal.

A mistake from Monreal let the lively Weimann surge clear and the Austrian cut the ball back for N'Zogbia, whose first-time shot was well saved.

Arsenal briefly quelled Villa's threat and went close to a second when some neat passing ended with Olivier Giroud's low angled left-foot shot being saved by Guzan just before half-time.

Villa centre-back Ciaran Clark gave the home side a scare when he met an Ashley Westwood corner just after the break only to put his effort disappointingly over.

Cazorla impact

Santi Cazorla is the first Arsenal player to net 10 league goals in his debut season since Thierry Henry in 1999-2000.

Giroud horribly sliced a shot wide at the other end and Arsenal's failure to add to their lead kept the visitors in with a shout of stealing an equaliser, which Villa duly did.

A Villa clearance was poorly headed by Gunners defender Carl Jenkinson on the halfway line and N'Zogbia nodded the ball to Weimann, who raced unchallenged at the home goal before scoring with a low strike.

Wenger's frustrations on the touchline were all too clear but his mood improved when a forward foray from Monreal let Cazorla tuck in his 11th goal of the season and help Arsenal avoid three successive home defeats for the first time since 2002.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger:
"What is most difficult is not the critics, it is that we lost the last two games. I am not here to lose games, I want win. What hurts me the most is that we lost to Blackburn at home and Bayern at home.

"When people come to the Emirates Stadium, they are not to go away with wins. All the rest concerns me less. Of course [it has been difficult], but you do your job and focus on the next game and try to win it.

"That is what we did. I am not 30 years in this job at the top level and going to be destroyed by people saying I don't know what I'm doing. I have been in this job a long time and what is important is that we have responsibilities and we have to stand up for them and get the team ready to go into the next game ready to fight."

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Villa will avoid relegation - Lambert

Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert:
"I don't need to rebuild the confidence after that. But I haven't for a number of weeks now. The confidence is there.

"The team were excellent against Arsenal. I don't think we deserved to get beat. We looked a threat throughout the whole game. In the first half we should have scored. But the way the lads played, I couldn't fault them.

"I thought they were excellent throughout. I felt we should have scored more than one goal. And I thought we should have been in front at half-time. I thought we were unlucky to be down.

"But we came out in the second half and went again - and got the equaliser. The equaliser was a brilliant finish, from a fantastic counter-attack.

Goal! - Santi Cazorla - Arsenal 2 - 1 A Villa Santi Cazorla finds the net with a goal from inside the penalty box to the bottom right corner of the goal. Arsenal 2-1 Aston Villa.

82:54

Theo Walcott takes a inswinging corner from the left by-line to the near post, Joe Bennett manages to make a clearance.

82:38

The ball is sent over by Santi Cazorla, Matthew Lowton manages to make a clearance.

81:08 Substitution

Substitution Simon Dawkins on for Charles N'Zogbia.

79:47

Corner taken right-footed by Theo Walcott from the left by-line, Olivier Giroud takes a shot. Save by Bradley Guzan. Theo Walcott takes a inswinging corner from the left by-line played to the near post, Per Mertesacker produces a header from close range which goes wide of the left-hand upright.

79:30

Outswinging corner taken right-footed by Aaron Ramsey played to the near post, Christian Benteke manages to make a clearance.

79:22

The ball is crossed by Jack Wilshere, clearance by Joe Bennett.

78:27

Theo Walcott takes the inswinging corner, save by Bradley Guzan.

77:12

Unfair challenge on Per Mertesacker by Christian Benteke results in a free kick. Aaron Ramsey takes the direct free kick.

76:48

Olivier Giroud takes a shot. Save by Bradley Guzan.

76:26

Santi Cazorla takes a shot. Blocked by Karim El Ahmadi.

75:35

Corner taken right-footed by Santi Cazorla from the left by-line to the near post, Christian Benteke makes a clearance.

Love the response you get from the likes of Motson!!! Somehow it's OK for the likes of Man U and other teams to win ugly but not for Arsenal. When we win ugly it seems we are lucky to win a match!!! What does it take for commentators to change their attitude towards Arsenal!

People dissing Giroud know nowt about football. He has scored a few goals in what is his first PL season, his movement is good, he’s frequently in the right place at the right time, he’s had a few assists & he’s a big lad who can hold the ball up and play with his back to goal – he's not the flop that some are making him out to be. Judge him at the end of next season.

What the hell has happened to Szczesny? I really rated him last season; let’s hope his recent dip in form is just temporary.

Typically we have to score more than 1 goal to win a game. We’ve only won 4 games 1 nil. Other teams can sit on a 1 goal lead all match – with us you know it’s probably not going to be enough with our sieve like defence. A DM is needed quick-smart....

271 - Totally agree. Only AW could have kept us consistently in Europe with our wage structure and financial constraints - you can't blame him if players are greedy. We have some top drawer youngsters with good experience and he'll get the confidence back and sort the defence. IF he buys 3 players next season he will challenge for title.

as an Arsenal fan i have total confidence in AW to get us into the top 4 position in EPL. with Spurs and Chelsea facing tough matches ahead this is a realistic goal. looking forward to what AW does with the 70 million and we can only get better with time once we iron out current issues of inconsistency, confidence and defensive performance. Unbelievers should join the silly Pierce Morgan fan club

As a neutral, I think the Tottenham v Arsenal next weekend looks nicely set up. Inspectors raided premises in Tottenham recently in connection with the growing horse meat scandal and I wondered if this was Spurs preparing another dodgy lasagne claim like they did a few years ago.

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